Tag Archives: BruinsNation sucks

When I started this blog up back in November 2011, I was hoping just to mess around, rant about the UCLA Athletics program a bit, and possibly kill some time while the winter break was coming up. All the way through January, I didn’t do much to advertise, or even consider garnering more reads.

I always came in with the plan of coming up with an alternative to that sorry-ass excuse for a blog, “BruinsNation.” The narrative at that site makes me vomit, and I often mistake it for some crappy uSc blog, considering all they do is talk shit about our Bruins.

But, there are, of course, people and places to talk about.

It wasn’t until January that I had began posting links on Reddit (namely /r/UCLA and a few others) that I realized that the community was hungry for a UCLA blog that tried its best to be objective and let the story of our Bruins dominate the narrative (as opposed to the story of the blogger). Ever since I began connecting with people from /r/UCLA and other websites, I took the blog more seriously. Instead of considering it as some place to rant, I began to consider it a community, or at least the start of one. There is no fan-base as vocal as the UCLA fan-base, and there is no fan-base as proud as the UCLA fan-base.

I put up polls. You guys vote on them. I write posts that forces you to rebuttle, or even agree? You comment on those posts. My statistics tell me that the need for a UCLA athletics community — a place to rant without getting your ass banned — is one that’s very much needed. And that’s why I’m continuing.

So yes, the entire purpose of this blog post is to thank you, the reader, for keeping up and following along. I can’t post all the time (I’m a junior at UCLA and I’m taking 19 units!), but I can post as much as humanly possible, about basketball, football, or whatever other newsworthy thing going on the UCLA universe. If you’d like to help out around here, ask questions, show us some vids, I’d be happy to have you along for the ride. Hit me up in the comment section below, saying you want to be a part of this blog, and I’ll invite you via your e-mail. If you just want to keep reading and answering poll questions? That’s fine, too. It’s you’re prerogative.

In case you guys did not know, I hateBruinsNation. And as far as anyone else can tell, so do other new UCLA’ers around the blogosphere, such as UCLA Football blog, “Bruin Pride” which is a fine football blog that hopes to be yet another “BruinsNation alternative” as the author puts it. And let’s not forget the UCLA fans that comment on other blogs (like Inside UCLA with Jon Gold) about their hate for that tunnel-visioned, crap-ass excuse for a blog.

Why do I hate that blog, you ask?

Because it isn’t what a blog is supposed to be. Sure, it has all the technical stuff like the ability to post constantly, write text, etc. I’m talking about some of the administrators failing to know what the essence of a blog is. And what it is, is an opportunity for discussion between the blogger and the reader; for a multitude of perspectives to be considered, instead of the fixed mindset that BN embodies. A blog with the designation that BN has — to blog about UCLA sports and not be some sort of lame-ass collective action website — should discuss UCLA Athletics and not focus on a specific agenda.

Those who have read BruinsNation know: “Chianti Dan.” “Howlers.” “Neubs.” “Dorrelistas.” “#NoMoraDan.” And so on and so forth. For those that have not read BruinsNation? These are all examples of lingo the administrators force on their readers. Think Ben Howland deserves one more chance to prove himself in the form of one more evaluated season? You’re a “Howler” who has no idea what they’re talking about. Rebuttle by saying it’s your opinion and the administrator should accept it? You’re banned or your comment gets deleted while you’re lectured by some idiot who can’t use correct subject-verb agreement (but is somehow running a blog on SB Nation, an otherwise fine collection of sports blogs).

It wouldn’t be such a problem if the website didn’t represent itself as the voice of all UCLA fans. During the search for UCLA’s new head football coach, the admins were making it a point to delete and suppress all comments and posts that were in favor of a candidate the admins did not like. For example, Mike Belotti:

Speaking of “No’s”, another name that is repeatedly being mentioned is Mike Bellotti. We have repeatedly made the case here on BN about acceptable criteria for our next football coach, and Bellotti clearly does not fit. We are not going to waste another 3+ years with a retread coming out of the broadcasting booth who has been out of the game for several years.

Of course, when they mean “we” they are referring to the UCLA fan-base as a whole. A little odd that they want to speak on behalf of myself and other Bruins. Sure, Belotti would have been a shitty hire, but I would think they would want to have a say on that before having that forced down my throat.

And the day Jim L. Mora got hired? More of the tired-ass rhetoric that BN likes to push on its readers, this one from the douchebag behind it all, Nestor:

As for Mora here is his first official “message” to the Bruin community:

“As someone who has been around the game of football my entire life, I have always held the UCLA job in the highest esteem,” said Mora. “Given its location and its tradition, UCLA is truly a sleeping giant and I realize that an opportunity of this magnitude doesn’t present itself more than once in a career, so I jumped at the chance to be a Bruin.”

Couple things to notice. First and foremost, his link to the news about Mora leaving NFL Network links to a post written by, you guessed it, Nestor himself. In that, he quotes (and strategically emphasizes) Jon Gold about when Mora would join the team (again, emphasis his):

Mora last coached at the college level in 1984 as a graduate assistant at Washington, where he played defensive back from 1980-83. After a lengthy career as an NFL assistant coach, Mora took over for Atlanta in 2004, guiding the Falcons to an 11-5 record an appearance in the NFC championship game. Mora went 15-17 for the Falcons the following two seasons and was fired and spent one season with the Seahawks in 2009, going 5-11. He has served as an NFL analyst since then and is expected to join the team once he finishes his broadcasting duties.

Keyword, dumbass: “Expected.” Speculation. You know — when there’s no word from the proverbial horse’s mouth?

And then, there was the possibility that Jim Tressel would be hired by UCLA pre-show-clause order from the NCAA. Boy, did they try hardashellto convince the rest of the fan-base to get on board with their agenda. They even conducted multiple polls worded as such:

Do you think UCLA should hire a disgraced cheater such as Jim Tressel – facing possible show cause penalty from NCAA – in any capacity to coach or consult the Bruin football program?

The results of that lovely poll? Sixty-five percent “yes,” four percent “NO,” and 15 percent “HELL NO!” (yes, there was a “HELL NO!” option), with over 1700 votes casted. (They asked again in a post isolating Tressel’s NCAA violations. “Yes” received a 73 percent vote with over 1000 votes in.) The admins then proceeded to flood their own comment section with things like, “You are all morally bankrupt” and had told readers to “prostitutethemselves” in relation to the Tressel hiring. Classy. (Funny, considering the same assholes thought it was so classless for tight end Joe Fauria to make fun of LSU. And those admins are supposed to represent UCLA as alumni? Fuck them. Someone needs to strip them of their “UCLA Alum” status.)

Which, after 1000 words of whining about that sorry excuse for a “bl_g,” leads me to the existence of this website: To provide just one of many alternatives to BruinsNation. The network effects of that “bl_g” have saturated the UCLA blogosphere, and readers are basically stuck with the shit those guys write on a daily basis. After tonight, I’ve ceased posting comments on that website. It’s time that the UCLA blogosphere takes back its objectivity and openness for diverse opinions, and time for BruinsNation to stop embarrassing our beloved university by disgracing the blue-and-gold and demeaning the values that we, as Bruins, hold.

This blog will not seek to become the dominant, go-to UCLA Bruins blog. Instead, it will join other great fan blogs — such as Bruin Pride — to give readers alternative places to interact.

The Goal

The UCLA community is a large one. But just because it's big, doesn't mean the community can't be a tight-knit, smart, and affectionate one.
That's the goal of the Sons of Westwood. The goal is to stay open to the ideas of the community and provide whatever news possible on our beloved UCLA Bruins. The goal is to be inclusive.
And to do that, dear reade-- nay, community member, we need you. Not to write, but to comment away, and converse. To be Bruins and speak your mind.
Our goal, then, is to get you to care more than you ever did about your fellow Bruins by way of the most unifying institution in America: Sports.
So cheer loud and be proud. Go Bruins!!